What is the more accepted and common pronunciation in the US?
(< = glottal stop)
Word: Accurate
Pronunciation: "<Ack your rut", or "<Ack your <ut"
Word: "Higgens" (last name)
Pronunciation: "Hig gens", or "Higg <ens" / "Higg <ins"
Word: "Horten" (last name)
Pronunciation: "Hort ten" / "Hor tin", or "Hort <en" / "Hort <in"
Word: Mountain
"Moun ton" / "Mount ten" / "Moun tin", or "Mount <en / "Mount <in"
Word: Historical
Pronounciation:
"His tor rick cul", or "His tor ric <ul", or "His tor <ic <ul"1
So basically this is a question about inserting a glottal stop before the last syllable of certain words. Has this practice recently (last few years, or 1-2 decades?) become much more widespread?
In the case of two-syllable words, the practice is often (but not always) accompanied by an unusual (to my ears) lengthening of the pause between the the syllables, and often by a "clipping" or shortening of the first syllable, and sometimes even a slight elevation of the pitch of the first syllable. The whole effect is to make the word seem somehow "cuter" (cute <er?) and diminutive, seemingly well suited to words like "kitten" (kit <in) and the like. One therefore might wonder whether there is any statistical correlation towards increased usage when describing objects/ animals that most people would agree are diminutive or "cute" -- as well as any gender or age bias of any kind as to the employment of this practice, either on the part of the gender of the speaker and/or, in the case of a name, the gender or age of the person being named.
In some words (e.g. "kitten") the last syllable seems to be shifted toward more of an "in" sound, too.
But anyway the actual question is just about practice of putting a glottal stop at the front of the last syllable of certain words, and whether this is becoming much more common.
I was surprised to hear this practice so frequently in a recent radio program featuring young native Spanish speakers in the US, speaking English. Perhaps is was just a coincidence-- there doesn't seem to be anything about the Spanish language that tends to lend itself to this practice -- (I doubt that anyone is saying "Bur rit <oh" or "Bur <eat <oh" for "Burrito"... )
Footnotes:
- Ok, being slightly facetious here (or should I say fuss <esh <us?) in also adding the glottal stop to the second-to-last syllable. Wouldn't be too surprised to start hearing that soon though. The practice I'm describing seems to be mostly confined to two-syllable words at present, and in longer words, usually only the last syllable is involved.
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